


Burden of Knowledge

by zinnia_rose



Category: Bones (TV)
Genre: Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2011-12-26
Updated: 2011-12-26
Packaged: 2017-10-28 03:56:34
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 266
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/303471
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/zinnia_rose/pseuds/zinnia_rose
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>A heavily pregnant Brennan asks Max a question about her mother.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Burden of Knowledge

**Author's Note:**

> This was written for tempertemper's prompt at the bitesize_bones ["Meme With No Theme"](http://bitesize-bones.livejournal.com/4332.html) comment fic.
> 
> I am in no way affiliated with Bones and I am not making any money by writing this.

“Did she miss me?”

Max turns. “What was that, honey?”

“My mother. When you left…did she miss me?” Her eyes are bright, her voice small, and he’s suddenly transported 29 years into the past, watching his baby girl hovering in the doorway on her first day of kindergarten. She had the same look on her face as she asked him if he was _absolutely sure_ he’d come back to get her at two o’clock.

The words stick in his throat as he reaches out to take her hand. “Tempe, we both missed you more than you’ll ever know.”

*************

But weeks later, as she sits on her bed and watches tiny Charlotte sleep, she realizes that he was wrong. Just the thought of her daughter being taken from her sends an icy, helpless panic crawling up her chest, and her fists clench as she imagines living the rest of her life without ever seeing her baby again. It’s too painful, too horrible, too much to even contemplate.

She doesn’t realize she’s crying until a lone tear falls onto Charlotte’s yellow blanket, and she stares in horror at the mark it leaves. Nothing of her own childhood can ever touch her daughter. She will remain pure and untainted by fear and sorrow and anger. She will _not_ be contaminated by her mother’s past.

As she rubs frantically at the small stain on the blanket, she vows that nothing on this earth will separate her family.

Max was wrong. When she watches her baby’s dark eyelashes flutter and her tiny hands curl around her blanket…she does know.

**Author's Note:**

> Thank you for reading! Reviews make me happy. :)


End file.
